Florida Dive Spots

[Divergirl4U]

Type of Diving: Shore Dive

Overview: N. Deerfield Beach

Directions to site:
SE 4th St & SE 21st Ave, deerfield beach, broward, fl - Google Maps

Hillsboro Blvd East to N Ocean Way South

Parking: metered parking

The diving: This is a nice rock ledge out past the swim buoys. You find sea turtles, rays, tropical fish of all variety, hard corals, and stone fish. You’ll need your dive flag. 15 ft adv depth

Amenities: none

Pros & cons: Lifeguards do not allow daytime diving but this is a good place for a night dive or early A.M. dive.

 

[jmf1081]

I didn't see this posted anywhere but here is a list of artificial reefs in Sarasota and Manatee counties. You will probably need a boat to reach most if not all of these sites.

Sarasota Scuba Club - Reefs in Sarasota

I have been to the "Boxcars" site for my AOE and it was pretty cool. Large Angel fish and goliath grouper. I have also heard a lot about M-9 (the Army Tanks) but have never been. I am sure I have been to others, but most charters don't exactly share too much info about the places they take you since they enjoy job security.

 

[Glock Diver]

I'm surprised nobody has added the Blue Heron Bridge to this list. (or BHB)

SHORE DIVE - West Palm Beach area

The Blue Heron Bridge site refers to the bridge on Blue Heron Blvd. that crosses the ICWW as you drive towards Singer Island. Best to park and dive from Phil Foster Park, located in Riviera Beach. It's a great dive location that will offer a variety of marine life, from tiny seahorses to octopi to manatees.

Showers, restrooms, and free parking available. Frequent patrols by local police, but its a good idea to not leave anything in plain sight in your vehicle. There's also a boat ramp on the other side of the park.

*Be sure to check the tide chart and dive it at high tide* Otherwise, you're likely to encounter a nasty current that's almost impossible to swim against. You can locate the tide chart at www.saltwatertides.com and look under Port of Palm Beach.

 

[Chad Carney]

USCG Blackthorn, Sheridan Tug, Seafood Barge - Wreck Trek
Gulf of Mexico, well offshore from Tampa Bay, FL

Type of diving: Wrecks, boat diving only, spearfishing, photography & video.

Directions: 21 n.miles NW of John's Pass, Madeira Beach, FL. Coordinates, charts & more photos: Wild West Coast of Florida Section E

Getting to the site: Contact Capt Chad Carney 727-423-7775 or e-mail from Florida Skin Diver  Mobile Scuba

USCG Cutter Blackthorn

What to expect at the dive site: 80' depth, visibility ranges: usually around 25' to 40'. The Sheridan is most intact with a relief of 35', then the Blackthorn at about 18', and the Seafood Barge at about 10'. The Blackthorn typically holds the most grouper, snapper & hogfish because of the many tight hiding places and debris field to the east. The Sheridan attracts the most bait & pelagic species like amberjack, kingfish & cobia. Water temperature varies from approximately 85*F in summer to about 60*F in winter.

The wrecks are close enough to swim from one to another, if you are experienced in U/W navigation and can stretch a tank sufficiently in 80 feet of water. Navigating to the Blackthorn is easiest because of it's south to north alignment. The west to east alignment of the Sheridan & Seafood Barge make navigating more difficult. The swim is 3 to 5 minutes from the Sheridan bow to the Blackthorn. You will see large sections in the eastern debris field before the hull. From the Cutter Blackthorn's rudder swim 1.5 to 2 minutes to the Seafood Barge. The superstructure of the Blackthorn is just under a 1 minute swim away from it's own bow. See Wreck Trek Sheridan Tug to USCG Blackthorn & Pinellas Seafood Barge for ranges & bearings.

Warnings: Separately the wrecks are intermediate dives, if you do not penetrate.
The Pinellas 2 Wreck Trek (crossing wreck to wreck) is a very advanced dive!
The wrecks are old, rusting & collapsing, with fishing lines & tackle. Boat traffic can be dangerous while diving this wreck trek.
Markers may not be visible or in place due to storms and anchors. Stay as shallow as visibility allows while crossing.
Know your breathing rate and use appropriate capacity tank(s). Visibility and current may add much difficulty to the dive.
Drift dive technique works very well. Carry a deployable signal marker buoy (SMB) and reel.
Captains should be experienced. Observe all dive flag laws and respect other boaters and divers.

Pros and Cons: Great wreck dives & spearfishing despite being a published artificial reef. The Blackthorn's history is captivating, follow this link for the story Worldandnation: Three minutes that rocked Coast Guard. Minimum run offshore is an hour to 1.5 hours depending on seas. Boat traffic could prohibit immediate anchoring or dropping on the wreck of your choice.

Most recent date visited: June 2009.

Capt Chad Carney

 

[drewster]

Awesome thread. Thanks.

 

[Chad Carney]

USCG Blackthorn, Sheridan Tug, Seafood Barge - Wreck Trek
Gulf of Mexico, well offshore from Tampa Bay, FL

Type of diving: Wrecks, boat diving only, spearfishing, photography & video.

Directions: 21 n.miles NW of John's Pass, Madeira Beach, FL. Coordinates, charts & more photos: Wild West Coast of Florida Section E

Getting to the site: Contact Capt Chad Carney 727-423-7775 or e-mail from Florida Skin Diver  Mobile Scuba

USCG Cutter Blackthorn

What to expect at the dive site: 80' depth, visibility ranges: usually around 25' to 40'. The Sheridan is most intact with a relief of 35', then the Blackthorn at about 18', and the Seafood Barge at about 10'. The Blackthorn typically holds the most grouper, snapper & hogfish because of the many tight hiding places and debris field to the east. The Sheridan attracts the most bait & pelagic species like amberjack, kingfish & cobia. Water temperature varies from approximately 85*F in summer to about 60*F in winter.

The wrecks are close enough to swim from one to another, if you are experienced in U/W navigation and can stretch a tank sufficiently in 80 feet of water. Navigating to the Blackthorn is easiest because of it's south to north alignment. The west to east alignment of the Sheridan & Seafood Barge make navigating more difficult. The swim is 3 to 5 minutes from the Sheridan bow to the Blackthorn. You will see large sections in the eastern debris field before the hull. From the Cutter Blackthorn's rudder swim 1.5 to 2 minutes to the Seafood Barge. The superstructure of the Blackthorn is just under a 1 minute swim away from it's own bow. See Wreck Trek Sheridan Tug to USCG Blackthorn & Pinellas Seafood Barge for ranges & bearings.

Warnings: Separately the wrecks are intermediate dives, if you do not penetrate.
The Pinellas 2 Wreck Trek (crossing wreck to wreck) is a very advanced dive!
The wrecks are old, rusting & collapsing, with fishing lines & tackle. Boat traffic can be dangerous while diving this wreck trek.
Markers may not be visible or in place due to storms and anchors. Stay as shallow as visibility allows while crossing.
Know your breathing rate and use appropriate capacity tank(s). Visibility and current may add much difficulty to the dive.
Drift dive technique works very well. Carry a deployable signal marker buoy (SMB) and reel.
Captains should be experienced. Observe all dive flag laws and respect other boaters and divers.

Pros and Cons: Great wreck dives & spearfishing despite being a published artificial reef. The Blackthorn's history is captivating, follow this link for the story Worldandnation: Three minutes that rocked Coast Guard. Minimum run offshore is an hour to 1.5 hours depending on seas. Boat traffic could prohibit immediate anchoring or dropping on the wreck of your choice.

Most recent date visited: Oct 24, 2009.
Capt Chad Carney

First 4 pics are from Oct 24 on the Blackthorn and Sheridan.
The last 3 were from Dec 12, weather precluded running to the wrecks so the 6 LadyGaDivers shot their fish on natural ledges to the south.

Just added a HOT WATER DECK SHOWER to the boat!

Capt Chad

 

[CosmoKramerOfTheDeep]

. . . . and I've seen two blue ring octopusses there (very highly poisonous).

??? Were there halucinogens involved? These live in the Pacific.

 

[FloridaScubaNews]

East Fourteen/Gator Bowl (Great Spearfishing)

Off Shore Jacksonville, FL

This 75- to 85-foot deep area is actually home to a dozen separate reefs, including the popular Red Rock Reef and Y-Ledge. By far the most popular are the Gator Bowl press boxes. When a new stadium was constructed for the Jacksonville Jaguars, debris from the old stadium was put down as an artificial reef. The huge Gator Bowl press boxes and surrounding ledges are loaded with spadefish, amberjack and other game fish.

This is a boat dive, easy to find on private boat or use local charters. This spot is best in the early spring for spearfishing. My last dive there was late fall, viz was GREAT (at least for JAX) 60 feet.

Drawback - Subject to weather and charter boat availability. But very fun dive overall.

 

[c333davis]

Off Shore Jacksonville, FL

This is a boat dive, easy to find on private boat or use local charters (emphasis added)...

Can you recommend local charters? I've heard of only one, and wonder if there are others as-of Sept 2010.

Mods, please move this post if there's a more appropriate place for it, or point me to any existing thread with answers to my question.

Thanks, all!

 

[ermaclob]

Kinda odd no ones mentioned Sea-Tech Ledges.

this is a shore dive; the ledges run north to south on Dania beach and are approximately 100 or so yards past the Daina pier. you don't have to enter next to the pier they stretch pretty widely along the shore. id recommend going to the EROJACKS and swimming to the very end of them that way you can see stuff while swimming the ledges. in some cases you can even ride the south word current back to the area you parked.

the ledges have lots of corals and marine life on them, you can possibly take you time inspecting the nooks and cranes for interesting stuff. depth are any where from 10 to 25 feet or so throughout the dive.

Pro's : great shore dive!! lots of stuff to see for only the price of parking

Con's : moderately long swim i guess. Also the ledges show an evident change in color of the sea floor so, some boaters may use it as "Road" so have a good dive flag. not the minimum requirement ones

refer to post #24 for information on parking and other information that may be uses full. its the same location.